“Sleepless night”

The South Korean government is hoping for a success of the Singapore summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, since it could lead to peace on the peninsula after almost 70 years.

President Moon Jae-in and his cabinet watched the start of the summit before their morning meeting at Cheong Wa Dae (“Blue House”), the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

“I guess the attention of all our people must currently be directed toward Singapore,” Moon said. “I too spent a sleepless night. I, along with all our people, sincerely hope that it will be a successful summit that will open a new era of complete denuclearization, peace and a new relationship between South Korea, North Korea and the United States.”

The summit is only the beginning of a “long process” of re-establishing peace in the Korean Peninsula, Moon cautioned.

“The deep-rooted hostile relationship and the North Korean nuclear issue cannot be resolved in one single action in a meeting between leaders,” the president said after the cabinet meeting on Monday. “Even after the two leaders open the dialogue, we will need a long process that may take one year, two years or even longer to completely resolve the issues.”

Moon also voiced hope for a three-way summit with Trump and Kim in the near future, to formally end the Korean War. The conflict that broke out in 1950 was frozen by an armistice in 1953, but has never officially ended.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Seoul on Wednesday to inform the South Korean government of the summit’s outcome.